With 381 billion euros spent in 2025, Europe has never bought so much weapons (but each State does it in its corner)

This is a new record, which has broken every year for 10 years. Weapons expenses in the European Union will reach 381 billion euros in 2025, the European Defense Agency (EDA) announced Tuesday.

They had reached 343 billion euros last year, which was already a record level compared to 2023, according to the latest figures published by this agency of the European Union specialized in defense issues.

And this year, almost 130 billion euros dedicated themselves to investments such as new weapons. European countries have greatly increased their military expenditure since the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, and these have accelerated after the invasion of Ukraine launched by the Kremlin in February 2022.

As for research and development expenses, they reached 13 billion euros in 2025, an amount that should reach 17 billion in 2025, according to EDA projections.

Limit fragmentation

The report indicates, once again, the fragmentation of expenses, being these responsibility for the governments of the Member States, which “limits the economies of scale”, while weakens “the power of collective bargaining with the industry, which ends up increasing unit costs.”

This purchasing fragmentation is combined with a fragmentation of equipment, which is not without possessing interoperability difficulties. This is the case in all areas, from tanks to submarines, including transport aircraft.

Therefore, the EDA report recommends “planning and purchase in cooperation” and support at the EU level, which could “help solve these problems and reduce fragmentation in the coming years.”

The increase in expenses will continue

NATO countries, including 23 EU states are also members, have also decided to further increase their efforts, dedicating at least 5% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to their safety over the next ten years, including 3.5% for strictly military expenses.

To achieve this last objective of 3.5%, “it will be necessary to redouble their efforts and spend a total of more than 630 billion euros per year” in the EU, said André Denk, director of EDA.

Among the measures established to support the defense effort, the Plan “Preparation 2030”, launched last March, of which all devices would mobilize up to 800 billion euros for armaments.